The final Friday of the season saw stormy skies and heavy rain at Ricardo Tormo Circuit. Keen to get a feel for the conditions, which look set in for the weekend, Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins headed straight out on track. However, FP1 was swiftly red flagged due to excessive standing water. After a short delay the riders rejoined the Valencian circuit where they finished 6th and 10th respectively. Iannone also topped Sector 4, showing promising pace.

In FP2 track temperatures peaked at a meagre 15c, meaning caution was the order of the day. This afternoon session was also interrupted by a temporary red flag but Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s riders still found FP2 useful for gauging conditions. Both Iannone and Rins worked well to keep themselves in the Top 10 overall, with the Italian placing 4th. However, it could be all change again if FP3 tomorrow proves drier.

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“It’s been a good start in difficult conditions; it has rained all day which always makes things more complicated. Andrea showed good speed and good lap times, and Alex did a nice job working on settings and feeling, he also had good pace. So it looks like both riders are feeling confident in the wet so far but, as always, we’ll work to fine tune everything and improve where we can. We hope to capitalise on today’s efforts during qualifying tomorrow.”

Andrea Iannone
“Today was not so bad, and it’s only Friday. The conditions are a bit difficult, but that’s the same for everyone. We worked well today and found a few areas we can improve on - especially on the braking point and cornering. So for tomorrow we hope we’ve found the solutions for these areas. We’ll give our best for qualifying and my feeling is positive and good. The grip on the track is really good, but when there’s a lot of water we get some spinning, especially on the straight. But we just have to deal with these conditions.”

Alex Rins
“I’ve been feeling very good today, both in FP1 and FP2. The bike is working well and we’re preparing for race day. It looks like it will be wet all weekend but we are ready for that. It’s really difficult to ride in these conditions, and during FP2 the track was so wet that all of us riders were experiencing a bit of aqua-planing and spinning on the straight, but I think the track will be OK for the race. I came into the box towards the end of the session because the risk was a bit higher and my feeling was already good.”